The present invention relates to a lifting and depositing device for portable containers, e.g., compartments, containers, shelters or the like, with rack and pinion jacks to be connected to the container corners by means of brackets, of which the racks are provided on preferably tubular uprights, which are guided in tubular winch shanks of approximately the height of the container, to which are fastened the brackets and to each a winch gearing.
Lifting and depositing devices of this type have already been disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,000 and German DE-GM No. 7 502 135. Each of these devices has four rack and pinion jacks, which in turn have two brackets and one hinged tie bar attached to them on the standardized corner fittings of a container. By means of suitable operation of the rack and pinion jacks, which are generally operatively connected to each other in pairs connected by a shaft, the container can be lifted from a loading surface of a truck and then can be deposited on the ground, or can be lifted from the ground and deposited on the loading surface.
A problem with these rack and pinion jacks is the guidance system for the uprights including their racks in the tubular winch shafts which are approximately of container height. Because of tolerance variations and the resulting defective guidance of the uprights in the winch shanks, a great danger exists that the drive bevel gears of the winch gearing do not engage exactly in the racks, which leads to premature wear and tear and a very poor rack and pinion gearing operation. To avoid these drawbacks and to provide an improved guidance system of the uprights and tolerance compensation, it is also already known to construct slide bearing elements in the tubular winch shank which are tolerance-equalizing. However, this measure is uneconomical particularly with assembly line production, since suitable selection of the slide bearing element for the individual rack winches requires relatively too much time.